The Healing Club

Romantic comedy vibes and discussions of romance abound within this slice of life episode of The Healing Club. Tess and I talk about comedy, life, death, jealousy, misunderstandings, and boundaries (how to cross them, how to defend them, etc.) in this lively and poignant little podcast episode. Tess runs the T & A COMEDY SHOWCASE every Tuesday at The Secret Group.

This is a loud, drunken, stupid podcast with my friends Eddy and Egbert. We all say way too much about what it means to be lonely, toxic men. No mention of the 2008 Paris Hilton comedy bomb that no one's ever watched. If you liked that movie, then you might enjoy hearing all of us deliberately disclose our most embarrassing sexual secrets and despicable behaviors. In my mind this is funny, but...

Disturbing. Emotional. Spiritual. This podcast is a deep dive into the dark depths of two depraved minds developed and deformed by the deadly serious demesne known as the local Houston comedy scene. Luis talks about getting fired as a teacher and I talk about the movie Sleepless in Seattle. It's not at all related to the 1973 Nicholas Roeg horror classic starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Ch...

I'm reading the Seymour M. Hersh memoir REPORTER in which he recounts his years exposing scandals and coverups (My Lai 4, Watergate, government surveillance of U.S. citizens, corporate ties to organized crime, secret prisons and assassinations all over the world, the road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib, and so on), but I don't talk about that or the Errol Morris documentary STANDARD OPERATING PRO...

Creepy, scary, spooky, and thought provoking episode of internal investigation and interiority in this episode. It's just me talking throughout. I talk about books and read old diary entries. It's my internal monologue and subjective self.

Nothing relevant to the Hell or High Water movie, I just know it's one of Grady's favorites. He's here in Houston on a brief visit from New York City, where he's striving to achieve the same relevance I seek here in Houston. Grady's a past winner of the Best Comic in Texas contest conducted by all the Improv locations in the state. He won that contest a few years ago, he's...

Not at all a discussion of the 1973 Peter Yates film starring Robert Mitchum as the dirtiest, smarmiest lying dirtbag drunk / double-timing criminal worm from any movie ever--this is a fun talk about loneliness and power dynamics in the rough and tumble world of standup comedy in Houston, Texas. We really connect with each other and discover reasons to be better friends. Watch that amazing movie w...

We don't talk about movies or anything, but Escape from New York is a film I can watch over and over again. I discover something new about manhood and stoicism in the face of tragedy every time I watch that John Carpenter classic. The sequel's not as great, but it's still fun. Anyway, Will Loden's back on the podcast and we discuss customer service. We also remember our friend Juda...

I really like the 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, but we hardly talk about it on this podcast. Instead we tell stories about our families and religious beliefs and opinions and so on. It's Tre Tutson talking about ambition and reality and the conflict between the two: how to reconcile ambition with reality and make dreams come true. We don't have...

The other day I watched the 1986 Neil Jordan film starring Bob Hoskins, Cathy Tyson and Michael Caine. The best part is when there's a bunch of guys chasing short little Bob Hoskins through a city square.  He turns around in the middle of the chase to head-butt one of the guys, knock him down, and kick him in the crotch a lot.  Funny stuff.  Go check it out. Great film. We don't dis...

In this episode we talk about everyone we hate and why we hate them. When there's a lull in the conversation I read the lyrics of the ZZ Top song "Rough Boy" in their entirety. Then we talk about how much we love Maria Bamford and Sheng Wang, and also why I should win the Nobel Peace Prize. At some point we do mention the movie Apocalypto and ask how anyone human can live with the planet's loss of...

I named this episode after the film directed by Lukas Dhont, a movie that made me cry for an hour and a half at the multi-plex last week. This is a very special podcast dedicated to the memory of the late great Bryan Hurzie.  Ben Mowbray and Dianne Gallagher were Bryan's friends and peers in standup comedy going back to the mid-90's days of the Houston Laff Stop.  We talk about suicide a...

At no point do we discuss the 1990 Abbas Kiarostami film Close-up, which is about the trial of a guy who in real life tricked a family into believing he was the director of a film starring them. It's a strange little film that is not as action-packed and riveting as this explosive new podcast with myself and my old friend Mairead Dickenson. Our conversation explores all sorts of issues metaphysica...

This is a sincere, political, inexplicable, and endearing podcast with one of the funniest people to attempt standup comedy in the scene in Houston: Albert DeLeon: hero, father, mentor, guide, victim, saint, and martyr of many faces and guises.  Albert DeLeon's appeared on JFL New Faces and many other things in venues all over the country. He's performed standup for years and years.  Thi...

Unique, powerful, devastating, hilarious conversation abounds in this dialogue that captures the talents and personalities of the three best comics in Houston: me and my two guests Abbey Vollman and Jessi Saldana. I think I refer to the movie ANIMAL KINGDOM in some off-hand way during the rambling intro, but other than that no mention of the 2010 Australian crime thriller directed by David Michod....

Silly energy and big smiles. Happy conversations and joke homilies from two stupid faces on this episode. Nothing mopey. No one delves into deep wells of despair or victim shame on this one. Perfectly goofy and natural as we talk about the songs that reached number one in the charts on our birthdays in the different years we turned twenty-three. This whole thing feels like two people hanging out a...

Arielle Isaac Norman returns! This podcast features an elaborate intro with music in the background playing so that my weird upstairs neighbor won't hear every word I say through the thin walls of my tiny apartment! I read a passage from the Dana Spiotta novel WAYWARD, a novel about a depressed woman whose midlife crisis happens shortly after Trump is elected in 2016. The out of context passage ha...

The talk in this one goes sci-fi, philosophical, speculative, and dreamy as we peer into the inner trash can of my soul and my comedy. Russell Simek returns to converse about artificial intelligence, synchronicity, and the changeable nature of human identity. It's confusing and topical, political and surreal. During the intro I explore why Jessica Walter's performance in Clint Eastwood's 1971 dire...

During the intro I apologize for how horrible the last episode was in that conversation throughout which I thought I was being funny but was not, actually, very funny. I also read a citation from the Greg Grandin book THE END OF THE MYTH and describe in passing the Camara Laye novel THE RADIANCE OF THE KING. I sing along to the Guided By Voices song "My Kind of Soldier" and ramble discursively abo...

Cacophony of voices chattering and smattering, describing and delighting with words of nothing at the end of a night of heavy drinking. Irrepressibly irresponsible and stupid as Hell! This is some sort of endurance test or something.  If you lose a bet, you should have to listen to this podcast in public and make sense of it to an audience. This is so much of a punishment and a chore to sit t...

Merry Christmas mothers and fuckers! This is a very filthy Christmas episode of the goddamned Healing Club with cock-sucking surprise guest Albert DeLeon returning to talk about Christmas and family and joy and love and rape and ghosts and harmony and magic! Albert's been on Just For Laughs New Faces of Comedy and Moontower Comedy Festival and so much more! Follow his TikTok! Listen to this podcas...

Emily Peacock returns to chat about comedy, art, music, movies, childhood, parenthood, teaching, trauma, and Metallica. We don't talk at all about the 2020 Miranda July film Kajillionaire (which was the last movie I saw at the historic River Oaks Theater before it closed), but we do have a good time as always. Please enjoy another fun time capsule podcast window into our souls and psyches. Also in...

Astra Adara joins the podcast to talk about stars, destiny, sexuality, and poverty in the United States. We make history together as we discuss the meaning of experience and/or love. She reads some Tarot cards for me and diagnoses me as a hopeless person. This is a funny podcast with some serious attitude. Like and subscribe! Follow and share! 

These two recurring guests are back, and if you come to any ComedyHubHouston shows this year you can thank Eddy Aviles for creating these opportunities to have fun. Tess Vergult runs some of the best shows in town every T&A Tuesday at The Secret Group at Ten O'Clock. Every single one of us has a kick in their step for this conversation about one of the best movies I've never seen: Jennifer's B...

Mandy Trichell returns to talk about her work as a women's reproductive rights activist, and the conversation careens into other topics such as socialism and the war on drugs. It's politically charged, but also silly and down to earth. We talk about growing older on a planet that feels like a dysfunctional home. It's a good vibe. We have a nice time. It's a fun podcast. Listen, like, and subscribe...